:confused:Hi guys...

Toodling along in the VRS on the way home from work today and all of a sudden the radio cuts out, then i lose climate control, then the abs traction control and airbag warning lights iluminate...

Shortly after I lose all throttle response and she starts ticking over a bit rich/funny?

Anyway, limp it in to a layby (that means push) and call the RAC out,

bloke arrives and quickly diagnoses the fault (in the fuse box on top of the battery there is melted plastic, burn marks... the lot).

He bodges it back together and she starts and runs fine, however he was holding his hand on the wire that went to the 110Amp fuse that went and said that it was getting hot...

so I'm having the VRs recovered to the nearest dealership (bath as bristol have gone in to administration recently) as he believes there may be something more sinster behind it all... posibly a fault with the loom...

Anyone else had this fault or can shed some light on it for me? Looking at the new fuse and new fuse box with has tallied up to almost £50 minus the labour and investigations...

Help me pleasseee...I just want her to be back to normal!

Similar problem here mate: http://briskoda.net/octavia-i/fuse-box-top-battery-get-overheated-melted/63876/

and here

http://briskoda.net/octavia-i/help-box-top-battery-fuses/87105/

The 110A fuse protects the alternator/battery cable. After a while the cable deteriorates due to the heavy electrical load placed upon it, and it gets hot. I replaced mine with a new cable rated at 110A. The charge rate on my TDi 110 is now about 13.6 volts at about 75A of load at engine idle, and 14.2 volts with no load. It's difficult to get much better than that.

The important thing is to do a volt-drop test between alternator + to battery +. With all loads switched on the voltage difference should definitely be below 250Mv. Anything higher than 500Mv (0.5V) needs attention.

I'd replace your battery/alternator cable first, but make sure you buy some decent quality cable that has the correct current rating......

Yes, I've had (got!) this as well. As stated above, it's important to not just replace the fusebox & fuses but also the wire to the alternator.

When you replace the fusebox, also make sure to properly clean the contacts of the other connections as they will be dirty from the smoke of the old fusebox melting. If you don't sand the connections first you'll get a bad contact which could repeat the cycle for another cable. I'd even replace the unbroken fuses for the sake of a few pence.

Assuming it the black cable that is overheating, then I would agree with Railroad.

awesome guys... i'll replace using a genuine skoda cable seeing it's lasted 50,000...good advise. Mine is the black cable and unlike the other posts linked at the top it wasn't the yellow fuse things. I'm gonna book it in to skoda and let them do it... atleast if anything goes wrong I've got someone to take it back to. Only thing is it's tuesday before they can get the parts so it's punto power until then :'(

Any chance of a part number? Is this a seperate wire or part of the loom.. Hard job to do? :-(

It is a single cable that runs from the fuse plate to the alternator. It's no problem to fit yourself. Tell the dealer the VIN and what you want. They will supply the correct cable for the alternator you have.

It's not available as a seperate item, only as part of a complete loom. The best way is to do what I did and go to an auto-electrical outlet and buy a length of suitable cable and terminals. I bought 2 metres of 110amp cable and cut it to the correct length. I also bought one 6mm and one 8mm eye crimp terminals. Luckily we've got a proper crimping tool at work, and I removed the old cable and fitted the new one in it's place.

It's not a difficult job to do, but you might be better doing it yourself rather than trusting someone in a dealership who doesn't really care too much to do it for you. It will be much cheaper too.

If you're in South Hampshire contact me and I'll do it for you.....

This happened to me on my 110TDI. The problem is known to Skoda and there is a design fault that causes the loom in the immediate vicinity of the large fuses on top of the battery to arc and melt the plastic in this area. Skoda paid for all the new parts but not labour to have this repaired. I was able to identify it before a failure as i have fitted a volt meter and it was reading below 11v with the engine running. You will need a replacement alternator to battery charging loom and battery fues box - cost about £100 18 months ago.

It's not available as a seperate item, only as part of a complete loom.....

OK, That's why I couldn't find a part number for a single cable.

When my mate had this problem, I drove him to the dealers to collect a single cable. I guess they must have made one to order. It cost £20 (incl VAT).

OK, That's why I couldn't find a part number for a single cable.

When my mate had this problem, I drove him to the dealers to collect a single cable. I guess they must have made one to order. It cost £20 (incl VAT).

When I wanted to replace my cable I went to my local TPS. The parts salesman there is a bloke who used to work in the same dealership as me about 20 years ago, so I know him very well. He told me that it wasn't available as a seperate item but didn't mention anything about making one.

I paid about £6 for 2 metres of cable and two terminals from an auto-electric store.......

Just incase anyone has this fault or is interested int he resolution...

I took the car to an autoelectrician in the end, they have traced the fault to a faulty (think they said burnt??) plate on the cable, not sure if this was the one that bolts down on to the fusebox or the altenator end... came to £59 in labour and VAT.. and the new fuse box was £45 ish from Skoda.

Only driven a few miles and hoping this has solved it - but we'll see whether I break down again any time soon.

On the plus (if you would call it that) side of things, the hire provided to me by my breakdown company was a kia...my first response when they backed it in my drive was "ffs"...however, after having the 1.6D Ceed for 3 days and actually getting 60MPG (one day when driving steady) which I thought was amazing...Also after giving it complete and utter abuse on the otherdays I still got around 40MPG... AND (this is the big thing) it didn't breakdown or rattle. And I promise I don't work for KIA as a salesman lol...

Anyway, hopefully that's this whole SAGA over with.

thanks for the help guys